Chapter 57 : Government Support Project(4)

Seo-ha placed her phone on the desk.

The KakaoTalk messages that had been constantly coming in since the recording.

They were from people she had met while hanging out in Hongdae, and although she had replied a few times, she was now really tired of it.

“Don’t they have anything better to do?”

She had felt bad when Gyu-sik and his group left the studio that day.

They looked so defeated by Ha Su-yeon’s talent.

She didn’t like them, and they had been rude… but she didn’t think they deserved to be hurt like that.

She thought so…

But that feeling disappeared completely after that day.

She didn’t know what they had been saying to others, but why were they bothering her so much?

In the midst of this, her phone rang again.

She picked it up and saw that it was another KakaoTalk message.

She was going to ignore it, but this time it was from a close acquaintance, so she couldn’t.

She opened the message.

[Is your band’s guitarist good?]

[Gyu-sik got drunk and said he felt a wall and wanted to quit guitar]

[He was drunk and said he was going to quit the band and go into seclusion ]

“Ugh!!

Stop sending me these.”

Seo-ha replied to the message she didn’t even want to know about, using as much social skill as she could muster.

Based on the content of the messages pouring in, she guessed that… he was shocked by Ha Su-yeon’s skills that day and had been talking about it to everyone.

The problem was, he had talked about it too much, and now people were sending KakaoTalk messages to Seo-ha from all over.

Moreover, among the messages, there were some that had a suspicious tone, like [Is your band’s guitarist Ha Su-yeon from Hanseung High School?].

‘But honestly, it’s understandable to feel a wall.’

Seo-ha thought back to when she first met Ha Su-yeon.

Just a few months ago.

The kid who showed her, who was so arrogant and thought she knew everything, what it meant to be outclassed.

Even Seo-ha, who hadn’t been playing for that long, felt that way, so how would others feel?

No matter how much Ha Su-yeon had taught her, it was an incomprehensible level of talent.

Enough to make anyone who thought they were talented feel like an amateur…

‘Although her mischievous side is a bit much.’

This incident, and others as well.

Seo-ha and Ha Su-yeon’s first meeting, according to Ha Su-yeon recently, was intentionally caused by Ha Su-yeon because “you were so arrogant back then, I wanted to teach you a lesson.”

Of course, it made her come to her senses, but… wasn’t it a bit too much?

Well…

It’s true that she was a bit rude back then.

And it’s true that Gyu-sik was rude too…

Hmm…

‘Wait, I’m older than her, aren’t I?’

While she was lost in thought, Seo-ha suddenly had a thought.

Ha Su-yeon’s age was 17, Seo-ha was 18.

Even though a year’s difference is absolute when you’re a teenager, Ha Su-yeon had been acting like she didn’t know that since they first met.

But if she imagined Ha Su-yeon clinging to her and being friendly, saying “Seo-ha unnie~” like Lee-seo…

“Ugh.”

Seo-ha felt a kind of cosmic horror.

It felt like that shouldn’t happen.

She kind of missed Lee-seo…

“I’ll go to the department store and then to a cafe nearby.

Call me when you’re done.”

“Okay.”

At Ha Su-yeon ‘s short answer, Hye-in tickled her side for no reason.

Seeing Ha Su-yeon ‘s face, trying not to laugh, Hye-in smiled and disappeared into the department store.

‘She’s becoming more and more playful…?

Does she think I’m a child?’

It was no use thinking such thoughts.

Objectively speaking, she was her daughter.

After living like this for a few months, she felt like she was getting used to it.

Ha Su-yeon had such useless thoughts and moved to the building in front of her.

The recording studio was on the second floor, right?

She was going to do a session for about two percent today, so she would earn about 300,000 won after paying for the effector.

“Oh!

Ha Su-yeon.

Welcome.”

“Hello.

It’s nice to see you again.”

When she entered the studio, Professor Chae Ho-geun, whom she had met before, greeted her.

They shook hands and talked about what they had been up to.

There was still some time before the recording started, but Ha Su-yeon arrived early to talk.

She could talk to Ho-geun about music.

While sipping coffee, Ha Su-yeon and Ho-geun talked.

About old bands, psychedelic rock.

Where should prog rock and prog metal go, can Pink Floyd be considered prog?

The kind of trivial things that people who like music from that era would have thought about at least once.

Their conversation was ended by someone entering the studio and greeting them.

“Professor Chae!

Are you here!”

“Oh, PD Park.

It’s been a while.”

A middle-aged man with an ordinary build.

The fact that he was wearing sunglasses for no reason gave an idea of his personality.

“And this is…?”

“Ah, she’s the guitarist who will be doing the session for the album.”

“Is that so?

Nice to meet you.

I’m Park Hwi-seok.”

The business card that Park Hwi-seok handed her said, [Park Hwi-seok, Music Director].

The name of the record label was also written on it, and it was a fairly well-known label.

“Nice to meet you.

I don’t have a business card to give you…

I’m Ha Su-yeon.”

“Oh…

Ha Su-yeon?

That name sounds familiar.”

Hwi-seok tilted his head at Ha Su-yeon ‘s name.

Ho-geun smiled and said, “She’s Ha Su- Yeon  disciple.”

But Hwi-seok didn’t seem to recognize ‘Ha Su-yeon’ because of that.

“I’ve heard that name somewhere…

Ah!

Director Kim!

That’s right, isn’t it?

The high school girl guitarist that Director Kim hired but told to get lost.”

“Huh?”

Ho-geun looked at him, wondering what he was talking about.

Talk about words having no legs and traveling a thousand miles.

Ha Su-yeon took a shallow breath and explained what happened.

She went to do a session for the first time, but this guy named Kim Jae-hoon ignored her and so on.

So she did this and that.

“Ah~ that was interesting.

When I heard about it, I thought that Kim Jae-hoon has talent, but he has a lot of issues, so someone should have done that to him at least once.

Yeah.”

Despite trying not to show it, his face was full of laughter.

It was obvious that he didn’t like that ‘Kim Jae-hoon’ guy.

“Hello.”

“Hello~”

In the meantime, people started arriving as it was time.

It was time to stop chatting and start recording.

After a long recording session, the slightly tired session musicians were given a break.

Ha Su-yeon went down the stairs, stretching her left hand.

She felt like having a cigarette.

But should she be sorry that she couldn’t, or grateful that she could quit smoking?

She bought a can of coffee at a convenience store and drank it in one gulp.

There were plenty of high-quality and delicious coffees in the studio, but Ha Su-yeon liked this canned coffee for some reason.

Was it nostalgia for the past, or something else?

“Your playing was good, by the way?”

She heard a voice from behind.

When she turned around, it was producer Park Hwi-seok, who she had been introduced to earlier.

Ha Su-yeon shrugged instead of answering.

“I was Concern about who to use for the guitar, but the professor said he had someone in mind.

He said she was really good.

I was half in doubt, but it wasn’t an exaggeration.

I think the professor might have even underestimated her.”

“Thank you.”

Ha Su-yeon thanked him, but she looked at Hwi-seok with a bit of suspicion.

Was he just trying to compliment her without any context?

There might be people like that, but there are usually not many people like that at that age.

“So, are you interested in recording an OST?”

That’s what it was.

Well, it’s a good opportunity, Ha Su-yeon thought.

An OST.

What was he thinking?

She had never shown him her vocals or anything.

All she had shown him was her guitar, her face, and the fact that she had messed with Director Kim Jae-hoon.

Was it because of that?

“What kind of OST?”

“A drama.

You record the session, and we shoot a making-of video for the OST.”

As expected, Ha Su-yeon was right.

They would sell the OST with a composer, and use the making-of video to attract attention by saying it’s a high school girl guitarist.

Of course, it was a welcome opportunity.

It was a way to make money after all.

But for Ha Su-yeon, there was something she wanted to consider more than money at this point.

“I don’t mind recording the song…”

“Huh?”

“But I want to do it as a band, not as an individual.”

“A band?

That’s a bit difficult…”

Hwi-seok expressed his disapproval as soon as she made that suggestion, as if he only wanted to use ‘Ha Su-yeon’s individual popularity.

But instead of trying to persuade him, Ha Su-yeon showed him a QR code.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a QR code for our performance.

Watch it when you have time, and contact me if you’re interested.”

“Haha…”

Leaving Hwi-seok, who was smiling awkwardly, Ha Su-yeon went back to the studio.

If Ha Su-yeon ‘s guess was correct, Hwi-seok would contact her as soon as he saw that video.

He had no choice.

Why?

He was talking about shooting an OST just because of a high school girl guitarist, so what if it was a band made up of four high school girls?

Ha Su-yeon ‘s prediction was spot on.

“Okay.

Let’s go with a band song.”

The next day, Ha Su-yeon received a call while she was on her way home from school.

Hwi-seok told her that he had watched the video last night and thought about it all day today.

“It’s a bit of a risk for me.

There was no band song originally.

But I’m thinking of making space for a band song.”

“Is that so?”

Hwi-seok talked as if he had suffered a loss.

She wanted to ask him what he wanted her to do about it, but you can’t say that to a client who’s giving you work.

Not when she was ‘ Ha Su-yeon ‘, and certainly not now as ‘Ha Su-yeon’.

“So…”

When Hwi-seok brought it up, Ha Su-yeon had to say, “I’ll think about it,” despite the years she had lived.

“You want me to make a classical/jazz-style band song?”